Definition of "heartbeat" []

• A single complete pulsation of the heart. (noun)
• A vital force or driving impulse: Broadway is the heartbeat of the New York City theater world. (noun)
• An instant: The police arrived at the scene in a heartbeat. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "With the nine-year-old Doha round of trade talks on the back burner, "the only [global] trade negotiation with a heartbeat is the GPA," says Simon Evenett, a trade economist at the University of Saint Gallen in Switzerland."
• "During thawing, the heartbeat is also the first physiological activity that is restored."
• ""The drum is what we call the heartbeat of our people," he said."